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Lovely little house

My girls love this house. We have the Happyland fairy treehouse and cherry lane cottage too, and although this is not my favourite of the three, it keeps the girls occupied for quite a while. It's open on one side, so although the pieces all fit inside, if you move it, they all fall out, so not as handy for me as the cherry lane cottage, which closes up and has a carry handle at the top. Still a good set, includes a family of mum, dad, 2 children, a dog and a car. Makes sounds when you press the doorbell, telephone, kitchen hob and tv. You have to put a figure in the seat in front of the tv to make the tv sound, so of course kids put a figure in, take them out, again and again. I don't think we've changed the batteries at all yet, so they have lasted ages, we've had the set a few years now.

Inside the house are the usual pieces of furniture - beds, bath, chairs, toilet etc although they are fixed inside, so the only things that come out are the family figures. It can be quite fiddly as it's a fairly small house, ideal for toddlers, but not really for say a 4 or 5 year old in my opinion.

Personally I don't like the colours of the house. It's very unisex though, unlike the cherry lane cottage, which is very pink. I suppose it's more realistic though, being shades of brown, more like bricks, and would appeal to boys and girls.

Good as a starter dolls house. I only ever buy Happyland when it's in ELC's sales as I think it's all very overpriced, so I would never pay £40 for this, but half price is a good deal.

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A great little house playset that comes complete with a family and furniture

The happyland range always seems to be a winner with my son and other people's children so when I spotted this down to £15 in the sale, I bought it straight away.

It's a lovely little house, about 40 cm tall, it has a nice yellow roof, two chimneys and blue windows. It is really brightly coloured and attractive.

My little one loves playing with it, setting up the furniture and people which are also included and making up stories. You also get a small car in which the characters can be slotted. You get a lot for your money really as don't need to buy additional figures or furniture unless you want to.

The happyland people themselves are sturdy, solid plastic, brightly coloured and durable. You can also play with them in water. The house is good quality and well made. We have had no issues. There is no sharp plastic, it is all smooth and child friendly as you would expect.

The playset takes 2 aa batteries, these were in the unit on purchase and are still going strong after 18 months of frequent play. There is a door bell, telephone, television and stove sound.

Tis set fits nicely alongside other happyland sets. There are a lot of sets in the range. You can even get a special playmat to use, but we just use a road map rug for ikea as this works well as a playmat.

The age range is pitched at 18 months plus and I feel this is realistic, my son is nearly three and still enjoys play with the toy.

There is a lot of packaging when you get the product, a lot of those metal ties to secure items in place and some of the plastic locks you have to turn and release.

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Ideal first dolls house for a toddler

I bought this for my daughters first birthday as I wanted a toddler friendly dolls house. I paid £15 as it was half price on sale which I thought was a great bargain as the house is a good size and looked very impressive in the box. It is very pretty to look at - it is cream and pale orange in colour with blue windows. There are window boxes on the upstairs windows and greenery growing on he downstairs ones. The house is over two storeys and has a open plan living room and kitchen downstairs and a bedroom and bathroom on the first floor. The house is completely closed in on the front (apart from the front door which opens and closes) and completely open at the back.

The house is extremely sturdy, it's made of really hard durable plastic and can withstand everything a toddler can think to do with it, including throwing it across a room. We have had this house for just over a year and looks as good as new despite being used every day.

The house comes with a few accessories including a car, a family of people and a dog. These add one are fantastic as it means you can use the house straight away and let their imagination run wild. My daughter enjoys putting the people asleep in the bedroom- there is a double bed and 2 bunk beds. She also enjoys lyin them in the bath as well. The role play feature of this product is fantastic, it's a great product to just let their imagination run wild.

Although this product has a suggested age guide of 18 months plus I gave it to my daughter at 12 months as I Saw no reason not to. There are no small parts and the figures that come with the house are chunky and a good size for little toddlers. Also there are some interactive elements to the house. If you press the doorbell it will ring, and if it sit one of the figures in the armchair in the living room the tv will light up and play music. In the kitchen the hob will make a sizzling noise if you press down on it and the telephone in the Hall will ring if you press it.

Unfortunately there are no interactive parts upstairs in the house which is a shame as I thought that they could have done something in the bathroom at least. The only other negative comment I have about this product is that the front door is forever falling off. It is easily put back on but it does become annoying when you have a toddler asking you to reattach it for what feels like the hundredth time in the space of an hour.

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A great basic house to develop and inspire imagination

I absolutely love all the Happyland stuff at Early Learning Centre - it is so simply designed as to allow plenty of room for imagination and so colourful but not garish.

This house is one of my favourite pieces - my daughter has the house and also the Fairy Boot (which I am not so keen on personally but she loves). This house is no loner available to buy new and in fact I bought ours on eBay where there are plenty to be had.

The house is a two storey detached property with one double bed a one bunk bed - so technically room for four but it would be a tight squeeze! It also has a bathroom with a toilet and bath, a fully equipped kitchen and a lounge with colour television, comfy chair (just one though, so your family will have to take it in turns to sit down....) and a telephone. It has a functioning front door.

To inspire your child's imagination, the house has some sound effects - the cooker makes a hissing noise, the television plays a song and flashes when you press on the chair, telephone rings and the doorbell rings.

My daughter has quite a few of the little people and she plays happily for quite a long time putting them to bed, getting them up and washed, cooking, etc. She really loves it and I can see her imagination developing as she plays. I intend to develop her village as she grows older, she is almost two and has had the cottage about two weeks.

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My favourite of my daughters collection :-)

Early Learning Centre have, for many years, sold their own Happyland collection. This collection is a range of toys aimed at toddlers made from durable, chunky plastic making it ideal for older babies and toddlers. It has many different sets available to purchase from figure packs to bigger sets such as a whole village and zoo. My daughter received her first Happyland set, the vet set, for her first birthday and over the years has received more for birthdays and Christmas. The most recent addition to her collection was this rose cottage.

--- Information ---

The Happyland rose cottage retails for £30 and is available to purchase from Early Learning Centre and places that sell Early Learning Centre toys such as Mothercare and Boots. If you are planning on purchasing it I would look around as it can, quite often, be found on some kind of offer.

The cottage requires 2 x AA batteries and some are found already inside. The recommended age for this set is 18 months.

--- Rose cottage ---

The cottage itself is quite large, I would say it's one of the biggest buildings my daughter has in her collection. The dimensions are approximately 45cm wide x 30cm high x 15cm deep. The front of the building looks exactly how you would imagine a two storey cottage; it has a thatched roof, cute window boxes and climbing ivy up the side. There are quite a lot of windows with four on the front and four in total on the sides keeping the inside of the cottage nice and light and airy. The back of the cottage has been cut out so children can play with the figures inside without any problems. The main building is made from a good quality, strong plastic; the only flaw I've come across is the door likes to fall off. This isn't really a major problem as it is quite simple to slide back into place and some of my daughters other sets do this too but it would be nice to be able to play with it without having to worry about the door falling off.

The attention to detail inside the cottage is fantastic. There are two floors; the ground floor is home to the lounge and kitchen whilst upstairs there is a bathroom and bedroom. Upstairs there is a double bed and bunk beds, complete with a bedside table and even a laptop! In the bathroom upstairs there are all of the usual appliances, toilet, sink and bath. Downstairs there is a flat screen television, armchair, telephone, vase of flowers and in the kitchen is everything you would ever need. Nothing is left out and the detail is of the high quality you would expect from an Early Learning Centre toy.

Of course, as there are batteries included in the house, it makes noises. There are four noises in total, three inside the house and one outside. Two noises are quite short and to the point, these are the doorbell outside (simple ding dong noise) and the telephone inside (quick 2 second ringing noise). The other two noises are the cooker hob which makes boiling noises for around 10 seconds, and the arm chair which when pushed makes a jingle noise and also makes the television starts flashing an orange colour for around 10 seconds again. The longer of the noises are really quite annoying, although they do add a lot to the toy, for the parent they are agony. Thankfully if you push another sound button it stops the previous one. It's worth noting that there isn't a volume button, but the volume isn't deafening anyway.

No Happyland set is complete without a few accessories to use alongside it, this one comes with six additional pieces in total. The Barley family, as Early Learning Centre have called them, has a mum, dad, boy, girl and dog and they even have their own car. Each figure is made from the soft to the touch plastic as the rest of the collection are made from. The parents are around 5cm tall and the children are slightly shorter, each one is made differently with different features. The dad, for example, looks like he is ready for work wearing a shirt, tie and waistcoat, carrying his jacket over his arm with a newspaper and briefcase, whilst the daughter has pretty bunches in her hair, has a floral top and is carrying her favourite teddy bear. Nothing is left out when it comes to detail on the figures.

My daughter instantly loved this set when she received it for her third birthday, I thought it may have been a little too babyish for her, but if anything it has rekindled her love of her Happyland toys as she did stop playing with them for a while. For the first couple of weeks after she got it, she would play with this set on its own but then started to incorporate some of her other Happyland toys into her imaginative play. She now often has her own routine when playing with it, by pretending its morning and her school bus from the school set comes to pick up the children to take them to school, it is so cute!

At three years old she is at the higher end of the recommended age limit, with a recommended age of 18 months, I still believe this is too high. None of the figures or accessories pose a choking hazard and the soft nature of the figures couldn't harm younger toddlers. I would say 12 months, or even nine months as the lower age limit would be more appropriate.

--- Overall ---

This is my favourite Happyland set out of my daughters collection. The old cottage style house is great and looks like a cartoon like version of my dream home! It's one of the more realistic pieces of Happyland toys, much more realistic than the moon base and toadstool for example. I would definitely recommend this Happyland rose cottage, it can be used on its own or it could be a great addition to an already growing Happyland collection of toys.

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Product Details

At a Glance Beautiful two-storey country cottage with Barley family, pet dog, car and four electronic sounds Features and benefits for HappyLand Rose Cottage Requires 2 x AA Batteries batteries (included) Beautiful two-storey country cottage with Barley family, pet dog, car and four electronic sounds.HappyLand Rose Cottage is a wonderful setting for pretend play. The opening front door, kitchen appliances and TV that lights up are some of the delightful details your child may recognise from their own home. They could have Mr and Mrs Barley drive to work in the car or feed the dog. Charlie Barley and his sister Poppy could play upstairs. And there are four fun electronic sounds for your child to discover around the cottage.Quick facts:??Cottage comes with car, toy family and dog??Four electric sounds and TV that lights up??Lots of cute details to inspire??Furniture is fixed so it can't be lostGreat for your child's development:HappyLand Rose Cottage encourages your child to explore their growing imagination and allows them to recreate what they've seen and enjoyed in their everyday lives. Your child can pretend the Barley family are cooking dinner, going on a walk or going upstairs to bed. Moving the toy figures around develops your child's fine motor skills, and making them talk to each other helps your child practise sounds and words.ELC star quality:HappyLand Rose Cottage is suitable for your child from a younger age than most toy houses, making it an ideal first dolls' house. Your young child can have a lovely time playing with this cute cottage, because it's been designed so they can grasp the figures easily, and the furniture is fixed down so it won't get lost. What you need to know:Pack contents: 1 cottage, 1 car, 1 Mr Barley, 1 Mrs Barley, 1 Charlie, 1 Poppy, and 1 dog.Size: Height 31cm x Width 31cm x Depth 19.5cmBatteries: Needs 2 x AA batteries.Playing tips:Busy Barley familyLet's get the Barley family up in the morning, and help them enjoy their day. We can move them around and help them talk to each other. Mum or Dad Barley can drive the car, talk on the phone, cook in the noisy kitchen, or relax and watch TV.Playing at homeLet's help Poppy and Charlie play hide and seek, run around, help around the house or take turns in the top bunk.Great for:Acting out the family's day ? just like your ownMoving the characters around the houseRinging the doorbell and opening the doorHelping the characters talk to each otherInspiring pretend play. What's in the box: 1 x Rose cottage 4 x Characters 1 x Dog 1 x Car 1 x Furniture